Definition: Motion sickness is a feeling of discomfort that occurs when the brain gets contradictory signals about the body's own movement. In virtual reality, the phenomenon is also called cybersickness or VR sickness: the eyes report movement, but the sense of balance in the inner ear reports no movement, or the other way around. Typical results are nausea, dizziness, headaches, sweating and disorientation.

In B2B mechanical engineering, motion sickness is mainly a topic for: VR training in industry and service, design reviews in VR, product presentations at the booth and virtual factory tours. Participants who feel sick stop, and the training does not reach its goal.

Advantage: When you know the causes, you can design content and sessions so that most users can use VR applications without symptoms.

English: Motion Sickness, Cybersickness, VR Sickness
German: Bewegungsübelkeit, Bewegungskrankheit, VR-Krankheit

How It Works

The sensory conflict

The most common explanation is the sensory conflict theory. The brain continuously compares three sources:

  1. Eyes: What moves in the field of view?
  2. Organ of balance (vestibular system): Does the body accelerate or turn?
  3. Body awareness: What do the muscles and joints report?

When the signals do not match, the body reacts with discomfort. On a ship, you feel movement, but you do not see it. In VR, it is usually the opposite: you see movement, but you do not feel it.

The most important triggers in VR

Trigger What happens Effect
Latency The image follows the head movement with a delay The world "drifts" behind
Low or unstable frame rate Stutter, missed frames Unsteady image, disorientation
Artificial locomotion The user glides with the joystick but stands still Strong sensory conflict
Vection Large moving areas create the feeling of self-motion Dizziness, nausea
Camera without user control The scene turns or pans automatically Loss of control

Latency and frame rate: As a guideline, the industry uses less than 20 milliseconds for the delay between head movement and image (motion-to-photon latency). This is a rule of thumb, not a fixed physiological limit. A stable refresh rate is equally important: for Meta Quest applications, 72 Hz is the practical minimum. Precise motion tracking makes sure that head movements arrive in the image without jumps.

Vection: When a large part of the field of view moves evenly, the brain interprets this as its own movement, as in a stationary train when the train next to it starts to move. Research considers vection a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for cybersickness.

Measurement: Studies usually use the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) by Kennedy et al. (1993). It asks about symptoms and groups them into nausea, eye strain and disorientation.

B2B Applications

Training: VR training for operation, maintenance and safety is the main use case. Here, people who often use VR for the first time spend several minutes in the headset. Design and procedure decide whether they accept it (see below).

Service: Technicians practice maintenance steps on a virtual machine. The work usually takes place in one location, so artificial locomotion is almost never necessary. This decreases the risk significantly.

Sales and trade shows: At the booth, visitors have little time and no VR experience. Short presentations, fixed positions and a person who assists them help. For sensitive visitors, an alternative is useful: the same 3D model in a web viewer, on a tablet or on a kiosk display.

Design review: Engineers examine plants at a 1:1 scale. When you move through large halls, you need teleportation instead of gliding.

Designing Comfortable VR Training Content

Locomotion

  • Teleport instead of gliding: Users point at a target and jump there. Without visible movement, almost no vection occurs.
  • Snap turn: Turning in fixed steps instead of smooth turning. Meta recommends offering smooth turning only as an option.
  • Physical walking: Where there is enough space, real walking is the most comfortable type of locomotion.
  • Vignette (tunneling): During movement, the edge of the field of view gets darker. This decreases the moving area.
  • Limit acceleration: If gliding is necessary, use a constant, moderate speed.

Scene and camera

  • The camera always follows the head. No automatic pans, no shaking.
  • A stable frame of reference helps: the floor, workbench or cabin stays still.
  • No large moving areas (moving conveyor belts across the full field of view, rotating halls).
  • Optimized models from the 3D pipeline keep the frame rate stable.

Comfort settings

Meta recommends offering different comfort levels, including a recommended setting and a very comfortable setting. Typical options: teleport or gliding, turn angle, vignette strength, seated or standing mode.

Planning Training Sessions

Seated or standing

Seated training is more comfortable and safer for beginners: no tripping, a stable body. Standing training is more realistic when users practice tasks on the machine. Both versions should be possible.

Session length and breaks

There is no universal limit. A proven approach is to start with short units, increase the length step by step and plan breaks in advance. You can divide content into modules that users complete one at a time.

Onboarding new users

  1. Adjust the headset correctly (fit, focus, interpupillary distance)
  2. Give a short introduction in a calm scene without locomotion
  3. Select the comfort level together
  4. Tell participants that they can stop at any time
  5. After the session, briefly ask how they feel

Effect on acceptance and training success

Users who feel unwell in the first session connect VR with nausea and refuse later training. Users who concentrate on symptoms learn less well. Motion sickness is therefore not a question of comfort. It has a direct effect on training success. For participants who do not tolerate VR, there should be an equivalent alternative, for example the same training on a desktop or tablet.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does everyone feel sick in VR?

No. Sensitivity is very different from person to person. Many users have no symptoms with well-designed content. Content with artificial locomotion affects many more people than stationary applications.

Do you get used to VR?

For many users, the symptoms decrease with repeated use. But a training concept should not rely on this. It is better to increase the load step by step.

Does better hardware help?

Partly. Higher frame rates, lower latency and accurate tracking decrease the risk. But even the best headset does not help against the sensory conflict from artificial locomotion. That is a question of content design.

Does motion sickness also occur in AR?

Less often. With augmented reality, the real environment stays visible and serves as a stable frame of reference. Web and tablet viewers are usually not a problem either.

What do you do when a participant feels sick?

Stop immediately, remove the headset, sit down. Do not let the participant "push through". The symptoms usually go away after a short time, but they can also last longer. After that, do not use the headset again on the same day.

Industry Standards and Technologies

Perception and comfort: - Immersion – the feeling of being immersed - Immersive experience – designing immersive content - Eye tracking – the basis for foveated rendering - Vection – the illusion of self-motion - Motion-to-photon latency – the delay between movement and image

Technology: - Refresh rate – frames per second - Motion tracking – capturing movements - Real-time rendering – display in real time - Sensors – the basis of tracking - 3D pipeline – optimizing models for smooth display

XR technologies: - Virtual reality – a fully virtual environment - Augmented reality – digital content in a real environment - Mixed reality – combining the real and the virtual - Extended reality (XR) – the umbrella term

B2B applications: - VR training – training in virtual environments - Virtual prototype – design review before construction - Digital twin – a digital copy of the plant - Teleportation – comfortable locomotion in VR